Sunday, October 07, 2007

Dithering and Dissembling

So Gordon Brown 'bottled it'. He just didn't have the b***s. He 'chickened out'. For weeks, he's been like a great big jelly in a vibrating dish. And then to cap it all he couldn't even stop his dithering without making a complete 'Horlicks' of it. The people of Britain have stood back in amazement and watched their spanking new Prime Minister dithering for weeks - and then dissembling like a schoolboy caught peeping into the girl's changing rooms.

Everyone in Britain with an iota of interest in politics knows that Gordon Brown wanted to call a 'cut and run' General Election to take advantage of his comfortable lead in the opinion polls. And if he hadn't gone to Iraq to re announce the withdrawal of our soldiers, in the middle of the Conservative Party Conference, with the purpose of nauseatingly 'playing politics' with our armed forces, a General Election it may well have been. Whatever, it was the astonishing turnaround in the opinion polls which caused him to call it off. We all know that. And what does this dithering heap of jelly go and do. He tells us "I want the chance to show the country that we have a vision for the future of this country" and "I want to get on with the job of change in this country and I believe that I have got to show people that we are implementing the changes....." blah, blah.... Problem is we all know the truth. He called off the election because he did'nt think he would win - or at least win with as big a majority as he has now. He 'bottled it'.

And our Prime Minister has messed up in another way. Because he knew that no-one would believe this version of events, he selected the compliant Andrew Marr of the BBC to become the conduit by which this stuff would be released. I wonder what Nick Robinson, the Beeb's chief political reporter thought of this. I wonder what the rest of the media thought of it. What price Andrew Marr's independence now. And to really mess up Brown's day, David Cameron gets better with every interview.

Having written all this, I have to admit that personally, I am pleased that he didn't call an election. It may well have been Gordon Brown's best chance for winning his own mandate as Prime Minister, but it would not have been right, And it would not have suited me in Montgomeryshire either. We weren't ready. By 2009 we will be. Today, probably for the first time, I really believe that David Cameron will be the next Prime Minister, and that I will be the next Member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire.

Normal mouth - different things upset different people. What really gets me is a Prime Minister who plays cynical, partisan games with the British people and our armed forces - and then selects a compliant journalist to come up with an incredible reason for changing his mind.

And as for my post, I have to admit that on re-reading, I can accept that it's a bit Daily Mail. But it does seems rather mild to me - and much more so than we are likely to hear in the House of Commons over the next few days.

I don't think it's a bad thing. You and the other local politicos would not have been in the best position to debate local issues to the electorate and, however you do that, the Montgomeryshire electorate needs to know more before we can vote. What happens nationally won't necessarily affect the local vote!

Montg Witness - agreed. I intend to ignore what others do and carry on contacting people directly by leafleting and meetings until an election takes place. I also intend to maintain my office - to which Montgomeryshire people continue to bring issues of concern.

maybe you are looking to stir up debate, but you and your colleagues need to be careful not to over egg the pudding, Brown is still PM and has the tools available to him to turn this around and to his advantage.

a separate point to normal mouth when has Welsh politics had discourse of any kind?

anon - normal mouth is an intellectual blogger and does get a bit stroppy when standards of discourse falls - but I wouldn't worry about it. He soon recovers.

Of course Brown remains PM, and could recover his poll lead - but I do not believe that voters will forget his willingness to play political games with our armed forces and with the people. He will be known as the 'spinner' that he is, and had pretended not to be.

Left Field - Brown's games helped us in two ways. It did create party unity by focussing our attention on an election. It also brought forward some idea of what our manifesto will eventually look like. We know Brown may steal some of these ideas - but I do not think people will forget where these ideas came from.

well I think Brown came out rather well, he tested the water and didnt go in.To my mind it was the Media and the Tories who were making all the fuss and whipping up a storm.I think most of the electorate wouldnt give a flying fart about it Much more important stuff to think about

fredaspeech - sorry but just dont agree. I think Brown has come out of it very badly. And its no good blaming the media and oppopsition parties. Gordon Brown allowed the story to run when he could easily have killed it off. He knew exactly what he was doing - but it backfired spectacularly

Hmmm. This little 'incident' says and confirms who and what Brown is and is thus of interest.PM Brown announced early in his PM'ship:-I am a conviction politician-I have a moral compass inherited from my father.-No more spinHis convictions are mere slogans that are never put to the test. His toughness is the strength of the bully abusing underlings. He ran away from Blair and failed to stand against Smith. Now he has run away from obtaining his own mandate. He has less conviction that Normal Mouth's seven year old.On spin. His invitatioin to Mrs Thatcher like his trip to Iraq and concommitant announce on troop reductions would put Mandleson to shame as exercises in cynical spin. He has been an itegral driver in the debasement of British Politics.

We know Brown may steal some of these ideas - but I do not think people will forget where these ideas came from.

You may be right, but if, for instance, the chancellor increases the inheritance tax threshold to one million, I think the electorate will thank those who did it. They don't much care about who thought about it.

What price Andrew Marr at all.Should not all the other parties complain to the BBC that such a blatently partisan reporter be allowed to represent what is supposed to be a public service broadcaster funded by all of us without choicee.